Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries

"A Chariot Witness"

Aug. 6, 2004

Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. Acts 8:30

The award-winning film “Chariots of Fire” describes the 1934 Olympic success of the United Kingdom track team. They ran with the intensity of fiery chariots. Eric Liddell, a Church of Scotland believer, anchored that track team and shocked the press by refusing to run on Sunday at the Olympics because of his religious convictions. One year after winning an Olympic gold medal, Liddell journeyed to China as a missionary with the London Missionary Society. He now ran for the Lord as a Christian witness. In addition to teaching science at an Anglo-Chinese college, he served as a rural evangelist, traveling many miles on foot and bicycle. During World War II he spent two years in a Japanese prison camp as an “enemy national” dying there of a brain tumor in 1945. Throughout his career he served as a tremendous inspiration to those around him – a chariot of fire in his witness to Jesus Christ.

In Acts we read about the evangelist Philip, who was asked to seek out a foreign dignitary from Ethiopia traveling home by chariot. “Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet.” Philip, like Eric Liddell, ran in order to witness to Christ. The Ethiopian eunuch believed and was baptized through Philip’s witness. No doubt the Gospel came to Ethiopia as the man’s chariot reached his home.

We can also be “chariots of fire” for the Lord. God sent His Son to run the race for us and win the victory on the cross. He endured persecution, suffering, and death to pay for our sins. He chooses us as His own forgiven children. By His power we can run like Philip and Eric Liddell to tell others about Jesus the Savior. What chariot witness does God have in store for you?

PRAYER: O Lord, give me the strength to run the race and witness to others so they may also receive the victory You have given us through Your Son, Jesus. Amen.

(Devotions from “My Daily Devotion” by Dr. Stephen J. Carter, copyright 1988 CPH. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be printed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of Concordia Publishing House. Permission is granted for one-time emailing of this link to a friend. For ordering information, please contact CPH at 800-325-3040 or visit www.cph.org.)

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